Popular Science: How was BB-8 conceived? Josh Lee: It was J.J.’s idea. We first saw it as a sketch on a napkin that had been scanned and emailed over to us. It caused a lot of head-scratching about how we would achieve it on set. So the first thing I did was build a model out of polystyrene and anything I could lay my hands on. I just wanted to get the movements down—the ball rolling, the head pitching....
Here’s what the assisted takeoff looks like: For the landing, the quadcopter hangs down a hook and tether, which the ScanEagle snags. Then it gently lowers to the ground. Normally, a ScanEagle takes off from a metal rail, and then returns by flying into a powerful hook that snags it out of the sky. It’s adapted from a drone made for fishermen, and there’s not a lot of room on a ship for runways or landings....
So you’ll need to know which apps, sites, and services are safe to subscribe to, and which are best avoided. To help you navigate those choppy privacy waters, we’ve put together a straightforward checklist that will give you a much better idea about whether that new sign-up is really worth it. What are you being asked for? The more details and data you’re asked for up front, the more wary you should be....
This is pure coincidence, but has trekkies everywhere weighing in (and has even fueled some Star Trek vs. Star Wars tension on Twitter). The spontaneous logo is located in Hellas Planitia, a plain within the larger Hellas basin. Scientists think the area formed during an asteroid impact, and that crescent-shaped dunes (called barchan) slowly traveled across the area long ago. Then, somewhere along the way, there was an eruption. Lava flowed across Hellas Planitia, encircling the dunes but not covering them....
You don’t have to be a CEO to have your own space, and you definitely don’t need a big exec’s budget to make it look good. They say one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, so let’s revamp some old furniture, gather some supplies, and decorate an office with a budget that won’t break the bank. Plan ahead Set a budget. This is an integral step before you start any decorating project....
Malignant nodules of this kind are among the earliest stages of lung cancer and are essentially round or oval-shaped growths in the lung. Doctors discovered the tiny growths in a CT scan Ginsburg had following a fall and subsequent series of rib fractures back in November. Human lungs are divided into lobes (the right lung has three and the left has two). Those lobes are further sectioned off into segments and then into lobules....
Galaxy Z Fold4 With each passing year, Samsung’s Z Fold series further establishes itself as the company’s premier foldable. Samsung refines the Z Fold4’s signature tablet-esque 7.6-inch AMOLED 2X folding screen with a slightly wider inner display, a more subtle hinge with less of a crease, and a less-intrusive under-display camera. Samsung has also taken great pains to make the Z Fold4 more durable than its predecessors, as the line’s integrity has always been a concern....
These electric models aren’t quite as powerful as the gas-powered monsters you hear roaring across the suburbs during the winter, but they offer some distinct advantages. Greenworks models run on power-tool-style rechargeable batteries and operate extremely quietly. Plus, they start instantly and don’t need regular carburetor cleanings like some gas models. They’re a great option if you live in a place that regularly gets a few inches of accumulation and you’d rather not shovel....
We’re particular to the bevy of laptops on sale. The biggest deal we saw was this Lenovo Yoga 9i for $1,049.99, which is $400 off its $1,449.99 retail price. Lenovo’s powerful, sleek laptop features a quad-core 11th-generation Intel Core i7 processor with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB solid state drive. It can also be used as a tablet thanks to its 2-in-1 design and ultrathin, ultraportable 3-pound shell. Plus the 14-inch multitouch screen with energy-efficient LED backlight and a 1920×1080 resolution means crisp, clear graphics for the best PowerPoints at work and the best games and streaming content at home....
I’m personally a huge fan of the Seiko Mechanical Automatic watch, which is down to $219 from $550. It has a substantial 39.9mm case that matches its stainless steel band. It has a super-precise mechanical movement and the case is water resistant down to 100 meters, which is a lot more water resistant than your human body. If you’re looking for something a little more tactical, the Citizen Eco-Drive Promaster Nighthawk (currently $211 down from $395) offers a 42mm case with more complications than a simple fashion watch....
As its name implies, HIV infects the body by hijacking the immune system and killing off its T cells, which are essential to staving off infection. Much of the immune system’s function is connected to the lymphatic system, so it’s no coincidence that HIV heavily concentrates in the lymph tissues. In many cases, HIV starts in the lymph nodes, which enables it to disseminate through the rest of the organism....
Vacation rentals are typically required to disclose any cameras they have on the property, and those cameras should never be placed in private areas like the bedroom or the bathroom. But you can never be too sure, so it’s useful to have a tool like the Scout Hidden Camera Detector, which is specifically designed to give you peace of mind on your staycations and out-of-town trips. From now until December 15, you can score it for an extra 20 percent off with the code WINTER20....
You don’t have to limit your squeegee to the shower. Use it on the bathroom mirror or even your car (no more waiting for the next exciting trip to the gas station!). Most models come in various sizes (10 inches, 12 inches, 14 inches), so consider all the ways in which you plan to use it before you buy. To up the ante of your squeegeeing game, consider using a daily shower spritzer first....
First, ask yourself whether you actually need to send that email. One of the worst things about digital correspondence is that it’s a pretty crowded channel, so the best email can sometimes be the one you don’t send. There are little to no built-in priority systems, and the artificial intelligence-powered attempts at them aren’t always reliable—an important email from your boss can easily end up in the same inbox as a deranged rant from your cousin and a receipt from your last Uber ride....
Imagine these photons as raindrops, and the time it takes for us to measure the gravitational wave as a sidewalk. Drizzling drops hit the pavement independent of one another. Some spots might stay dry longer, while others get soaked. The droplet nature of rain, like the photon nature of light, leads to “graininess.” Now physicists can even out those metaphorical raindrops. In upgraded detectors, a principle of quantum physics called “squeezed light” is helping researchers paint a more precise image....
The study is designed to help NASA understand the commercial possibilities of missions like this, but there currently aren’t any plans for NASA to conduct or fund a servicing mission to the telescope or commercially compete in this space, according to NASA. In partnership with the Polaris Program (a planned human space flight company), SpaceX proposed this study as a way to better understand the technical challenges associated with servicing missions in space....
Blue light, which makes up the highest-energy portion of the visible light spectrum, has shorter wavelengths than low-energy red light. These two wavelengths, and everything in between, is what the human eye can register as color. But there’s a lot more light beyond this spectrum that we can’t see. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, for example, exists past the blue end of the spectrum, and is known to cause some nasty eye conditions like cataracts and macular degeneration with overexposure—that’s why we wear sunglasses when we’re outside....
New for 2022 is the Ford Bronco Raptor. Its name might be an amalgamation of two animal-themed vehicles—Ford’s bucking Bronco SUV and its line of rowdy Raptor performance trucks—but its purpose couldn’t be more clear: a worthy contender to the off-road throne, and a new nemesis for the Wrangler Rubicon. The goal of the new Bronco Raptor is high-speed off-roading, according to Ford, which is apparent from the powerful twin-turbocharged 3....
But the fossil record from 390 million years ago is so sparse that it’s hard to find clues about who those fish were, or how they evolved. Fossils are few and far between, and there’s a surprising gap: the oldest evidence of tetrapods comes from a set of footprints left in a tidal mudflat that happens to be 15 million years older than the oldest tetrapod fossil. A new analysis of that fossil record, published Monday in Nature Ecology and Evolution, suggests that the transition happened in a geological blink of an eye....
Friends call me picky, but that word feels inadequate—it evokes a realm of virulent food neophobes who subsist on a steady diet of pale, bland consumables and balk at the notion of trying anything new. I, however, embrace culinary novelties: glass potato chips, grilled whale, musk ox in yellow curry sauce. I’ve eaten harkl, the Icelandic delicacy where a poisonous Greenlandic shark is left to rot, then fermented for an extra kick....
